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Oilers Have Considered Buying Out Milan Lucic

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Prior to the hiring of Ken Holland as GM, the Oilers had been considering the possibility of buying out winger Milan Lucic’s contract this summer, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his latest 31 Thoughts column.  On the surface, this seems like a reasonable idea but given the front-loaded, bonus-laden structure of the contract, many had viewed his deal as virtually buyout-proof.  Courtesy of CapFriendly, here is how the breakdown of a buyout would go:

2019-20: $3.625MM
2020-21: $5.625MM
2021-22: $4.125MM
2022-23: $5.625MM
2023-24: $625K
2024-25: $625K
2025-26: $625K
2026-27: $625K

Considering that Lucic carries a $6MM cap hit, the savings would be minimal.  While they could certainly use the $2.375MM in extra space for next season, the fact that they wouldn’t save enough cap room in two of the next three years to roster someone making the league minimum makes going that route a short-term solution at best.

In an ideal world, finding a suitable trade for Lucic would be the best case scenario, as long as the incentive they provide to take on the contract isn’t too steep.  Friedman notes that they tried to do so last summer but that their price was unrealistic.  Considering that his output dipped even more this past season (6-14-20 in 79 games), Holland’s tune may be a bit different now compared to Peter Chiarelli a year ago.

While it’s true that sending Lucic to the AHL would yield $1.075MM in cap savings (it would go up by $50K in 2021-22), his no-move clause makes that a challenge as he could very easily invoke that to block a demotion.  Assuming he’s unwilling to go to the minors, that makes a trade or a buyout the only options to remove him from the roster and while a buyout would give them a bit more breathing room for 2019-20, it would come at a pretty significant cost after that.  As a result, expect to hear Lucic bandied about in trade discussion in the weeks to come.

Offseason Keys: Vancouver Canucks

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While the playoffs are well underway, many teams have already started their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Vancouver Canucks.

Vancouver entered the season with hopes of making some progress in their path back to playoff contention.  They improved on their 2017-18 performance by eight points despite a lengthy list of injuries while Elias Pettersson had a Calder-worthy year and the Canucks now have a strong one-two punch down the middle with him and Bo Horvat.  However, they were still on the outside looking in so GM Jim Benning will have a lot of work to do this summer.  Here are some of the items he needs to get accomplished.

Add Defensive Help

While a full season from Quinn Hughes and the hopeful return to health for Olli Juolevi provide some optimism for their future back end, their current defense corps isn’t good enough to contend.  That was the case this past season when they had Alexander Edler, a pending unrestricted free agent, in the fold.

Edler missed 26 games due to injury and still had one of the better seasons of his career while logging a career-best 24:34 per night.  It’s a weak defensive free agent market on the left side so if he becomes available, there will be competition for his services.  However, he is loyal to Vancouver and wants to stay which is cause for some optimism.  However, a no-move clause that would protect him from Seattle two years from now for expansion appears to be a sticking point.

Even if they get a deal done though, work still needs to be done.  Chris Tanev is a useful stay-at-home defender but can’t stay healthy while Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher are capable two-way players but neither are full-fledged top four options at this point in time.  Hughes has plenty of upside but it will take some time for him to reach it.

Benning should be on the lookout for someone that, at the very least, can hold down a spot in the top four and bolster their ability to play defense by committee where a better third pairing can help offset lacking the top options.  However, as much as he has stated that he doesn’t expect to be shopping at the top of the market, landing a top pairing player would fill a long-standing hole for this team so that’s one area that he needs to make an exception for.

Deal For Boeser

There is a bumper crop of high-end players that are coming off of their entry-level deals and will be due for significant raises in the coming months.  The Canucks have one of those players in Brock Boeser although his case is slightly different than the others.

With Vancouver’s willingness to sign players after the college season has ended, they’re allowing players to get to restricted free agency a year earlier.  That’s the case with Boeser whose rookie season wound up consisting of just nine games.  Between that and some injuries along the way over the past two years, he has just 140 career NHL regular season contests.  In other words, he doesn’t even have two seasons of NHL experience under his belt while most of the other prominent RFAs have three.

As a result, he’s not going to get the top money compared to some of the others on the market.  That said, his deal could be one that other agents refer to as somewhat of a precedent-setter; if Boeser gets X with basically two years of NHL experience, their client is worth a couple million more than that.  After the season, the 22-year-old’s agent indicated that he’s open to any type of deal, be it a bridge pact, a max-term contract, or anything in between.  While many expect some of the RFA discussions to drag out closer to training camp, this one should get done well before then.

Add A Top Six Winger

While their top two centers are set in place for several years, the situation isn’t as rosy when it comes to the wings beyond Boeser.  Most of the others in place are either underachievers or young players with some upside but have several question marks as well.  Most of that group is either already signed for next season or under team control as a restricted free agent so there isn’t going to be much turnover as things stand.

Given Benning’s hesitance to spend big in free agency, it’s likely that they’ll target players that require shorter commitments.  Unfortunately for them, that’s not going to move the needle very much either.  Players like that would represent a small upgrade on some of their current options but it won’t provide a significant boost to an attack that finished 25th overall in 2018-19.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Vancouver turn to the trade market to try to help fill this vacancy.  In particular, finding someone in a similar age group to their young core would be ideal.  That player would also be cost-controlled which is important given the big-ticket deals that are going to be on the horizon over the next couple of years.  The Canucks have plenty of depth on the wing but at some point, it’s going to need to be consolidated.  That time may very well be this offseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Atlantic Notes: Ristolainen, Turgeon, Kivihalme

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While there has been a lot of trade speculation around Rasmus Ristolainen over the past few months, the Sabres have been asking prospective coaching candidates about how they can help the blueliner improve, notes Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News.  Consistency has been a challenge for the 24-year-old, especially in his own end but he can make a considerable impact when he’s on his game.  Buffalo has shaken up its back end over the past year with the additions of Rasmus Dahlin and Brandon Montour which has led some to speculate that Ristolainen could be in play.  However, the solution could very well wind up being to hold onto him and hope that a slightly lesser role as their other young players develop will be best for him over the long haul.  Nonetheless, with a $5.4MM AAV for three more years, expect GM Jason Botterill to be fielding a lot of interest in him over the coming weeks.

More from the Atlantic:

Eastern Notes: Chabot, Vrana, Maenalanen, Maatta

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The Ottawa Senators may have benefited long-term from trading off its expected big-name free agents at the trade deadline, but the franchise must still answer to its fans. With a number of young players on their roster, the team must prove to their fan base that it has no intention of just trading away all of their players once their contracts come up. There are rumblings that suggest the Senators are ready to commit to one such player, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes in his “31 Thoughts” column that the Senators are going to attempt to lock up defensive cornerstone Thomas Chabot to a long-term extension. Chabot, who broke out with a big season in his sophomore year with 14 goals and 55 points in 70 games, would be the ideal signing for the organization to prove to its fans that they intend to compete in the future.

Friedman also writes that owner Eugene Melnyk has been humbled by his lack of success in finding a President of Hockey Operations with top candidates showing no interest to the point of refusing to even meet with the team. The hope is that Melnyk will now find a way to please the fans by rewarding one of their young players. Chabot is the most likely fit as he will be eligible for an extension on July 1 as he is entering the final year of his entry-level contract. Perhaps the move will also turn around the team’s presidential search.

  • NBC Sports Brian McNally writes that while the team was thrilled that 23-year-old Jakub Vrana put up 24 goals and finally broke out as a consistent top-six winger, the team now has to pay for him. Vrana, who becomes a restricted free agent this summer, could look to sign a long-term deal as a young piece to a veteran team or opt to sign a bridge deal that could take him towards unrestricted free agency in a few years. Of course, Vrana struggled in the playoffs which could count against him, as he didn’t register a point during the team’s seven-game series to the Carolina Hurricanes. We’ll have some decisions to make,” general manager Brian MacLellan said. “We’ll find out which direction we’re going on Vrana with a term deal or a bridge deal. Some of it is money decisions. Some of it’s we need to make a couple changes.”
  • The Carolina Hurricanes are ready for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals with the Boston Bruins and while there will be no lineup changes, News & Observer’s Luke DeCock writes that the team still hopes that forward Saku Maenalanen, who has been out since Apr. 28 after having surgery on his hand, could return to the team soon as he practiced with the team Saturday in a non-contact jersey. The surgery was expected him to miss 10 to 14 days, which has already passed. While he’s tallied just one assist throughout the playoffs, the 6-foot-4 winger had given the team a physical element that it needed. The team hopes he might return later in this series
  • Jonathan Bombulie of TribLive writes that while it will be Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford job to move out some defensemen, figuring out which defensemen to move could be more challenging that most might think. Looking at Olli Maatta, who is coming off a poor season, the scribe writes that while he struggled when on the ice with bottom-line centers like Derick Brassard, but was more even-keel when Evgeni Malkin was on the ice, while he was solid when playing with Sidney Crosby, suggesting that the problem may not totally fall on the team’s defense.

Ottawa Senators To Interview Dallas Assistant Rick Bowness

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The Ottawa Senators continue their search for a head coach as the team has asked and received permission to interview Dallas Stars assistant coach and former Ottawa head coach Rick Bowness, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie. He is the sixth coach to receive an interview with the Senators.

Bowness, the Senators first-ever head coach, coached Ottawa in between 1992 and 1995, finished his tenure with the Senators with a 39-178-18 record, although expectations weren’t as great back then considering that expansion franchises didn’t get the same advantages that the Vegas Golden Knights have received and soon-to-be Seattle franchise will receive. Bowness has been the head coach of several struggling franchises over the years, including coaching the original Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, New York Islanders and Phoenix Coyotes, with an overall coaching record of 123-289-48 record. His last coaching gig was a 20-game stint with the Coyotes back in 2004 as the team’s interim coach after the team fired Bob Francis.

However, while his head coaching record may not be stellar, Bowness has made a name for himself as a top assistant coach, who helped the Vancouver Canucks in their glory years from 2006 to 2013, including one trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. He then moved over to work with Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning for the next five years before joining the Jim Montgomery and the Dallas Stars last summer, helping the Stars reach the second-round of the playoffs this year.

Bowness, 64, will be the sixth coach interviewed as the Senators have already interviewed Marc Crawford, Troy Mann, Jacques Martin, D.J. Smith and Nate Leaman. McKenzie added that there is no hurry for Ottawa to hire a head coach as he could see the team waiting until the end of the month before hiring a coach.

Buffalo Sabres Add Ralph Krueger To Head Coaching List

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With several coaching vacancies still out there, the Buffalo Sabres have added a new name to their coaching candidates list as the team has reached out to former Edmonton Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman late Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada.

Krueger was with the Oilers in 2010 as an associate coach in 2010 and was promoted to head coach for the 2012-13 strike-shortened season, but was let go after one season after leading the team to a 19-22-7 record. He left hockey in 2014 when he turned his attention to association football and became director of Southampton FC, having left in April of this year, although there were rumors earlier that Krueger was interested in a front-office role in the NHL. However, it looks like Buffalo is considering him for the head coaching role instead. Krueger is well known for coaching a surprising Team Europe to a gold medal game at World Cup of Hockey in 2016. He hasn’t coached in the NHL since getting fired in 2013.

While Friedman added that Krueger is just a candidate, and not necessarily a front-runner, he’s in the mix. The 59-year-old is considered to be a defensive-minded coach, he also has been known to have some good offensive teams over the years. After struggling under rookie head coach Phil Housley the past two years, the Sabres are likely looking at a veteran coach that can control the locker room and get the team’s young talents to develop properly. The two other key names that have been associated with Buffalo’s coaching search are also veteran coaches in Dave Tippett and Jacques Martin, although the team is not done in its search. The team was also linked to Swedish coach Rickard Gronberg, but he signed a two-year deal with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss NLA after it was rumored that the Sabres’ were not interested in adding a first-year NHL coach.

Poll: Has Kaapo Kakko Surpassed Jack Hughes For The No. 1 Pick?

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Just a few weeks ago, it seemed all but settled that the New Jersey Devils intended to take Jack Hughes with the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming 2019 NHL Entry Draft as the team pictured a combination of Hughes and Nico Hischier each centering their first and second lines.

However, after an impressive performance in his first two games for Finland, Kaapo Kakko, the consensus second-overall pick, looks to be pushing for the chance to be the first-overall pick instead. The 18-year-old Kakko scored two goals Friday against Canada to garner quite a bit of attention and then added a hat trick Saturday against Slovakia to post five goals so far. And the tournament has just started. All this is after Kakko posted 22 goals in the Liiga as a 17-year-old for most of the season. The possibility of a first line of Hischier, Taylor Hall and Kakko could develop into one of the best in the NHL down the road.

Hughes, on the other hand has been solid. He is also playing at the World Championships for the United States, but hasn’t established himself in the same way that Kakko has. Regardless, most draft experts still have Hughes, the playmaking center, at the top of draft boards and most people still have Hughes going to New Jersey with the Rangers happily taking whichever player is remaining.

However, Saturday’s performance has received quite a bit of attention, with many suddenly suggesting that Kakko should be the first pick in the NHL Draft. However, should New Jersey take Kakko at No. 1?

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Pacific Notes: Edmonton’s Coaching Search, Hitchcock, Stecher

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The Edmonton Oilers and new general manager Ken Holland may have decided that Ken Hitchcock won’t be the team’s head coach going forward, but regardless Hitchcock has been a key figure in helping the Oilers find the next head coach, according to Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun. Holland spoke about the situation, saying:

I’ve known Hitch a long, long time. Certainly as I’m going through the process of whittling a list of potential coaches down, he’ll be one of the people I’ll lean on. He’s coached against some of these people and if he didn’t coach against them, he knows which coaches he can talk to gather information. He’s from the coaching world. He can gather information up quicker than I can gather it up.”

Holland is expecting Hitchcock to gather information on all the coaching candidates considering the veteran coach’s experience over the years. There isn’t a hurry to hire a coach quickly. It looks like Holland is content to gather that information on all the candidates and make a decision later.

  • Sticking with Hitchcock, the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that there are rumors that the Columbus Blue Jackets might have interest in Hitchcock as a possible team president if John Davidson leaves for New York. However, Hitchcock’s response is that he is not interested in running a team. “I’d like to dig in and help the coaches both NHL and AHL. I think Ken Holland and I would work well together. Just need to find a role for me that would have value,” said Hitchcock.
  • After stepping up in his third season and providing solid defense, the Vancouver Canucks have to decide whether they consider Troy Stecher as a piece of their future, according to the Vancouver Sun’s Patrick Johnston. Not only did he provide solid value as a second-tier defensemen, there are some who wonder whether he could be even better than that. Stecher, who had 11 points last season, finished this season with 23 points. However, if the Canucks don’t see Stecher as part of their future, the team could trade him for more assets for the rebuild. However, Johnston points out that isn’t likely as the team is quite weak on the right-side where Stecher plays.

Central Notes: Laine, Predators Prospects, Gunnarsson, Honka

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With teams worrying about players’ second contracts more than ever, the Winnipeg Jets may have one of the most challenging tasks this summer when they have to lock up star forward Patrik Laine, who hits restricted free agency on July 1. While many may ask why not offer him what he wants, the Jets have two other serious issues, including an already full salary cap as well as the fact that Laine has proven to be wildly inconsistent so far in his early career.

While Laine still tallied 30 goals this past season (his lowest total of his career), 18 of those goals came in November with Laine scoring no more than four goals in any other month. Regardless, The Athletic’s Murat Ates (subscription required) writes that while a long-term deal could net Laine close to $9MM per season, he might even get more if he opts to take a bridge deal and bank on the potential to get back to 40 goals in the next two years. With the potential to hit his peak within that time, he could really hit payday if he waits. However, that could be an even bigger problem to the team’s long-term salary outlook.

  • The Athletic’s John Glennon (subscription required) writes that while the Nashville Predators have been ranked near the bottom when it comes to the franchise’s prospect cupboard, the Nashville Predators have some hope. The team does have a team in the AHL, the Milwaukee Admirals, who have slowly developed players that are ready to compete for spots on the NHL roster such as Eeli Tolvanen, Anthony Richard and Yakov Trenin, while the team has added some college depth to bolster their depleted group of prospects. Much of the team’s problems is that they have traded many picks to add talent over the last few years, but Glennon adds that the team has drafted well with the picks it has had whether they are in college, in juniors or playing overseas.
  • The St. Louis Blues will be missing a defenseman Saturday when they open up Game 1 against the Dallas Stars as NHL.com’s Chris Pinkert writes that Carl Gunnarsson will sit out after suffering a lower-body injury in Game 7 against the Dallas Stars in the second round. Veteran Robert Bortuzzo is expected to replace him in the lineup. Gunnarsson, a third-pairing defenseman, saw his playing time decrease somewhat in the second-round series.
  • SportsDay’s Matthew DeFranks writes that one offseason task that the Dallas Stars must look at is what to do with defenseman Julius Honka, who has been a healthy scratch for the final four months of the season as he hasn’t played a games since Jan. 15. The former first-round pick in 2014 has fallen down the depth chart as he has slipped behind Jamie Oleksiak, Ben Lovejoy, Taylor Fedun, Joel Hanley, Gavin Bayreuther and Dillon Heatherington. “We’re going to sit down over the summer now and we’re going to decide is he a part of this group or is he an asset to go get something else?” said Dallas general manager Jim Nill. “That’s what we’ve got to figure out.”

Atlantic Notes: Toronto’s Penalty Kill, Canadiens, Ristolainen, Acciari

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Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas took the blame for many things that went wrong this year at his season-ending press conference, the most interesting of which is the team’s struggle with the penalty kill, which stopped the Boston Bruins’ power play just nine out of 16 times during the playoffs. Dubas admitted he should have had more depth. While the coaching staff should be blamed as well, Sportsnet’s Luke Fox suggests ways to fix that penalty kill for next season.

The top suggestion is that the team must use real centers to take faceoffs during the penalty kill as winger Zach Hyman took the most faceoffs last season, going 69-72, while star John Tavares took just 29 faceoffs on the penalty kill and was the 12th-most used player on the penalty kill. The team must also add some depth to this team that could lose quite a few key penalty killers whether it’s Connor Brown, who is considered trade bait; Ron Hainsey, who will be an unrestricted free agent; or Travis Dermott, who will miss six months after shoulder surgery, the team must add players who can help their penalty kill.

  • One Atlantic Division challenger to the Maple Leafs could be in the running for one of their unrestricted free agents, as The Athletic’s Olivier Bouchard (subscription required) believes that the Montreal Canadiens should go after unrestricted free agent Jake Gardiner. The scribe points out that when the dust clears, Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin should have close to $11MM at his disposal and with defense being one of the team’s biggest need, Gardiner might be the perfect addition as the blueliner should be able to force defenseman Brett Kulak to a bottom-pairing role.
  • Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News writes that while the Buffalo Sabres have considered the possibility of trading defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen for a top-six forward, he believes that would be a mistake, claiming that rather than hiding his defensive weaknesses, the team keeps placing him in a role that doesn’t suit him, which is attempting to shutdown the opposing team’s players. Ristolainen, who finished the season with a NHL-worst rating of minus-41, has often been paired with defensive deficient players like Marco Scandella and Jake McCabe, while he also struggled inexplicably when paired with Rasmus Dahlin. Regardless, a new coach that can utilize Ristolainen properly might get the most out of him rather than the Sabres watch him flourish with another team.
  • Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports writes that Boston Bruins forward Noel Acciari has returned to practice and while he’s not expected to play in Game 2 on Sunday against the Carolina Huricanes, he could be ready for Game 3 in Carolina. Acciari, practiced in a non-contact jersey Saturday for the first time after missing the last three playoff games with an upper-body injury. “[Acciari] won’t play tomorrow,” said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “He’s doing well. He should be a full practice [participant] for Monday. We’ll see what we’re doing [as a team] that day, but he’ll be ready whatever the case may be. Hopefully, that allows him to play Tuesday and then we’ll make our decision then.”

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